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PICTURESTART and Berlanti Productions to Produce Film Adaptation of Critically Acclaimed Novel UNpregnant for HBO Max

Building upon its expanding original film roster, HBO Max has confirmed production of UNpregnant, adapted from the young adult HarperCollins novel authors Jenni Hendriks (How I Met Your Mother) and Ted Caplan (music editor for The Hate U Give, The Greatest Showman)

Haley Lu Richardson
Photo by Dani Brubaker

Barbie Ferreira
Photo by Matt Sayles

LOS ANGELES — September 19, 2019 — Building upon its expanding original film roster, HBO Max has confirmed production of UNpregnant, adapted from the young adult HarperCollins novel authors Jenni Hendriks (How I Met Your Mother) and Ted Caplan (music editor for The Hate U Give, The Greatest Showman). From PICTURESTART and Berlanti Productions, the film offers a mix of humor and grounded human emotion as it tackles complicated friendships and the difficult road to adulthood, all while in a stolen El Camino. Starting production in New Mexico this fall, Emmy® winner Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, The Mindy Project) has signed on to direct.

UNpregnant tells the story of seventeen-year-old Veronica (Haley Lu Richardson), who never thought she’d want to fail a test—that is, until she finds herself staring at a piece of plastic with two solid pink lines. With a promising college-bound future now disappearing before her eyes, Veronica considers a decision she never imagined she’d have to make. This tough and never-taken-lightly decision leads her on a 900+ mile road trip to New Mexico over three days with her ex-best friend Bailey (Barbie Ferreira), where they discover that one of the most important factors in your life is who your friends are.

“When the opportunity to produce a film based on UNpregnantarose in partnership with the incomparable Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Erik Feig, I knew HBO Max was the right place for this story,” said Sarah Aubrey, head of original content, HBO Max. “We want to create authentic, relevant films that are told with grace and humor to serve our young adult audience, and this is exactly that.”

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About Haley Lu Richardson
Haley Lu Richardson can next be seen in Kogonada’s After Yang opposite Colin Farrell. She recently starred in Five Feet Apart opposite Cole Sprouse for CBS Films. She starred in Kogonada’s highly-acclaimed Columbus, which premiered at Sundance in 2017 to rave reviews. Haley was nominated for Best Actress at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, and the film also received Independent Spirit Awards nominations for Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

She was most recently seen in writer-director Chris Weitz’s Operation Finale, in which she stars with Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley. Haley also stars as legendary silent screen star Louise Brooks in The Chaperone for Julian Fellowes, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Her film Support the Girls, directed by Andrew Bujalski, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and recently received nominations for Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards.

About Barbie Ferreira
Barbie Ferreirais best known for her role as Kat on the HBO hit show Euphoria. The show marked her return to HBO having previously appeared on Sarah Jessica Parker’s, Divorce. Time Magazine named Ferreira one of the Most Influential Teens globally for her influence in giving a platform to women on topics like self-empowerment, representation, and body diversity in fashion. Ferreira also starred in her own Vice series exploring facets of social etiquette entitled How to Behave, for which she won a Webby Award as Best Web Personality/Host.